0 a low-ranking male member of the nobility (= group of people from a high social class) --
1 a person who is extremely powerful in a particular area of business: --
It goes to the international drug baron and his cronies.
That will prevent the robber barons at county hall from holding them to ransom, as they have done for the past nine years.
Both were legislative councillors and tin barons.
So, although seeing the early 1640s as traditional politicking - barons, threats and counter-threats, royal incompetence explains much, it does not quite explain why the outcome was so untraditional.
The charter included the right of the barons, and other freedmen, to take up arms, even against the king if necessary, in order to protect their freedom.
Defended by the barons and their soldiers, it stands or falls.
This latter institution established the composition of clergy, barons, and lesser landholders (burgesses and knights).
Apparently, some commanders in the army are virtual barons, whose troops are personally loyal to them.